Introduction: Industrial Photography - Hasty Mistakes; Blasting Grit Recycler

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This instructable will teach how to quickly take a series of instructional photos. Photos of industrial projects in mid-stage of completion are very helpful. They can help you to be able to think about the project later and do on the fly design.

This project is of a home-made oven I have converted to a grit-blast containment unit for media blasting small wrought iron projects which I manufacture and sell.

" Media blasting" is the new term to replace "sand-blasting" ever since all the info about silicone disease got important publicity.

The photos are of my Green industry shop enhancement of the Blast-box. I am using an old central A/C blower to create a push/pull air blast that will capture and contain and recycle the blasting grit.

Step 1: 1st of 7 Photos Taken in About 3 Minutes

So as your leaving your project at some mid-stage of completion; you grab your camera and take some pictures to help you think later. Maybe you'll use them to explain what you've been doing all day to a non-technical person (like the wife).

Basically , you have 2 goals: (1) Take only a few photos because you want to get home and (2) Take the important ones so that they actually help you later.
Digital Cameras are of course the way to go here.

Start at one end of the project and take a first vantage point photo . Here is the end door of the duct work.

Step 2: 2nd of 7 Photos

Consecutiveness is important so that the series of photos makes sense to you and the person you'll be explaining the project progress and problems to.

This 2nd photo is of one of the duct work interior access doors. It has a handle.

Here I simply walked around the large box and took photos as I went.

You'll see later where I forgot to take an important photo but am able to extrapolate the information needed anyway.

With Digital Cameras You can take many photos quickly and use the good ones and archive the bad ones. Digital camera photos are easy and even fun to edit on your home computer.

Step 3: 3rd of 7 Blast-Box Photos

This 3rd photo is an oblique photo of the motor end of the blast-box ducting.

Oblique photos provide the most information quickly with the least number of pictures.

Often, it is important to use orthographic photos. Orthographic photos are: top; front, bottom, left side, right side, and back side. They are not always necessary. You'll see later where i wish I had taken one important top side photo.

Step 4: 4th of 7 Blast -Box Photos

This is an oblique view of the duct work leading up to the blower taken from in front of the blast-box.

From this photo one can extrapolate that the motor is not centered in the duct. This was originally thought not to be important.

What I cannot illustrate is that the motor pully and fan-belt pulley are aligned on one side of the motor and why centering the motor in duct work would increase air flow and suction.

Step 5: 5th of 7 Photos

This photo is the other side of the duct work viewed from the front door of the Blast-Box. It has a slight underneath view as well and shows a temporary support leg.

It is between this photo and the previous one that I should have taken a photo from a top-side orthographic point of view.

So, the lesson here is: take a couple of extra photos you think might not be necessary but are of an important part of your project.

The dirt on the floor is actually blasting grit that has gone awry. Normally I would manually sweep this grit up and recycle some of it . After the new motor and forced recycling air flow is engaged no more environmentally nasty grit will float around and gather on the shop floor.

Step 6: 6th of 7 Blast-Box Photos

Here is a view of the inside of the blast-box. There is a hole in the floor of the box visible on the far left.

I should have taken a photo of where the blower vent is going to be . Even though the hole for the vent has not been cut yet it would have been helpful to have that.

Step 7: 7th of 7 Blast-Box Photos

OK this is not a photo but a drawing of the project prior to construction.

It shows conceptually what I was trying to achieve. This sketch was done using the Paint program that comes with all windows package suites.